Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Reference - Steering Damper Blades.

Listening to this is making me smart a bit, so I thought I'd get it off my chest. Promised SWMBO that I wouldn't grease my own king pins anymore, after being almost unable to walk for a week the last time...need mine greasing I think! Anyway, local garage charged £48 to do it and said it can't have been done for ages as it took so much grease.Er...done 1200miles ago.
Got it home and couldn't resist a quick look and as suspected, grease everywhere; tyres, wheels loads round the nipples and no fresh grease squeezed out of the bottom of the pins!

Well, cleaning it off is a lot harder than doing it.........
And.....
£48 is steep, when it can be done in about ten minutes (including jacking).......

If you were closer I'd be happy to get down & dirty.

I'd suggest either converting the car to remote greasing as per my post


http://www.talkmorgan.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/49632#Post49632

OR
Buy a tilt lift which I also have and find it brilliant for lifting the front up to chest height -- means you can get at everything without crawling around the floor!!

Cheers

Dave,
Maybe next time I could do them for you properly?
You might have to come down to Cheltenham though

Cheers,

When I bought my 1992 4/4 just over a year ago there was grease everywhere except the brake discs!.
I have semi-cleaned things up and greased regularly since. It does literally take less than 30 mins inc jacking. Luckily I have a compressor so use a pneumatic grease gun. So much easier!
When my kingpins need changeing I will also add bearing conversion and remove the one shot oiler and replace with grease nipple lube system.- seems silly not to really. The one-shot oiler does seem to wash grease through the system as there is a continuos build up of oily grease that gets onto the springs. Car is meant for using not preservation in original set up.

Anyone know if Morgan used differnet size of damper blades for differnet models, have a replacement set but they are alot longer than the original.
Thanks,
Will

If the blades are longer, assuming that the front cross tubes are the same width,(and they have varied slightly over the years) then the difference will be where the blades locate on the chassis rails.

The blue aluminium housed steering bearing assemblies are ours at Mulfab.

The factory use a smaller bearing with a rubber cover. (Incidentally the rubber cover can be such a tight fit on the bearing on the stub axle that it actually prevents the bearing rotating freely....)
Factory steering bearings were first fitted to the Roadster Lightweights in around 2005 (myself and Dan White of Eibach at the time and latterly of Suplex spent an inordinate amount of time going back and forth trying spring combinations to find something suitable that worked. We also talked and worked extensively with what has subsequently become the "Suplex" kit)

The factory damper blades are different lengths dependent on crosshead width (there are 3)

Simon @ Mulfab

Post Photobucket reboot from April 2011

I've just got round to cleaning up the damper blades which I removed over winter to fit steering bearings. I thought it might help the understanding of those who don't DIY to post some pictures.

First the nearside as fitted - looking forward.
Right to left (ignoring the jar!) first is the thrust collar which is "bronze"...ish. Then comes the alloy drop link - these are very nicely made and clean up to look like new.
Finally is the blade itself. This is spring steel, and since there is little corrosion may even be stainless. The inner end is roughly finished and there are two distinct wear marks where it locates inside the sandwich plate on the chassis.



Now the offside, with much less wear evident. The bolts are 7/16"AF - UNF thread with a shank length of 2.5".



This is the top side of the collars where the bottom of the spring sits.



This is the underside. You can see the witness marks where the drop spacers were located. The stub axle assembly tube fits through the hole, and rotates against the collar. The rotational wear is very clear.



And this shot shows the thickness of the collars. They are substantial.



Finally, a close up of the wear......
In each photo the nearside blade is on the right.





The ends of the blades locate on the chassis and are held by two rectangular plates.........which allow the blade to slide in and out to accommodate suspension movement.



Ignore the piece of neoprene, that's what I used to seal the slot on the car when I removed the blades. Note that the two odd shaped washers have an enlarged hole. This allows them to be adjusted tight up against the blade, and you should periodically do this adjustment if your Morgan has damper blades. Replacing the blades with new is simply a matter of removing the two bolts through the alloy spacer, then slackening the adjusting nuts on the chassis brackets. The blade will then pull out. Fit the new blade, tighten the spacer bolts first, then the adjuster nuts. It is much easier with the weight of the car on the wheels. Beware that on older cars, there is a distinct possibility that the bolts may have corroded inside the alloy spacers, so you may need new bolts and spacers, and may have a degree of trouble removing the old ones. This is nothing that a competent DIYer can't handle!

2017 Note: The aluminium drop brackets were apparently introduced to provide clearance for the calipers. Drum braked Morgans would not have had these brackets. I'm also told that the current Caparo calipers don't retro-fit where steering damper blades are fitted.

When I received the Suplex Kit I noticed the rubber cover. I did not like this so I made covers out of Nylatron on my lathe. I also drilled small holes in the axle tube at space between the two plates (where the balls are) for greasing. (suggestion of a TM participant) I also purchased SKF 51108 Bearings to insure quality.